Earliest Flowers

     At least seven kinds of plants, from skunk cabbage hoods to inch-tall, lawn plants to trees make woods and lawns in southeastern Pennsylvania flowery during February and into March.  All the lovely blooms of these interesting, perennial plants bring beauty to those habitats every year, year after year.
     Skunk cabbage hoods house the first flowers of the year, as early as the end of January.  This native vegetation dominates and decorates soggy soil and inch-deep pools in bottomland woods.  Each thick, fleshy hood emerges from the wet ground and half opens, revealing a small ball with several tiny flowers on it.  Those blooms are pollinated by early-flying flies and bees.  By late March, each skunk cabbage plant grows large, lush leaves that is a favorite, early food of black bears.  
     Snow drops often sprout early in February, when we need signs that spring is coming.  These are two-inch-tall plants that are originally from Eurasia.  Early-growing vegetation hugs the ground to avoid cold wind, yet receive the warming sunlight.
     Snow drops are introduced to local lawns and flower beds by planting bulbs in fall.  Each snow drop plant has a few grass-like leaves and one small, white flower that looks like a snowdrop until it opens.  Then each lovely blossom resembles a tiny bell.  With imagination, one can almost hear several of them ringing in the wind.   
     Winter aconites are also from Eurasia, introduced to local lawns and flower beds by planting their bulbs in autumn, and bloom by mid-February.  Each aconite is one inch high, and has a single, scalloped leaf below one golden, beautiful flower.
     Aconites spread from the seeds their attractive blossoms produce and are scattered by the wind.  Yellow colonies of aconites, some of them large, bloom on, and brighten, some lawns and woodland floors in southeastern Pennsylvania.     
     Spring witch hazels are native shrubs planted on lawns because of their pretty yellow and pale-orange flowers that bloom by mid-February, adding another touch of the coming spring.  Each lovely blossom has four short, thin petals.
     Speckled alders are also native shrubs that inhabit streambanks.  Their purple, inch-long male catkins swell, elongate and become yellow with pollen that blows in the wind, fertilizing female blooms.  By the middle of February, the drooping male catkins undulate and sway in the wind, which adds to the beauties of this woody plant. 
     Muskrats, beavers and cottontail rabbits eat the bark and buds of witch hazels and alders in winter.  And the roots of the alders help keep stream banks in place.
     The popular and be-loved pussy willows are from Eurasia, but are also planted on many local lawns for their lovely, gray furries by the end of February.  Male plants of this species can be started by putting twig cuttings in water until they sprout roots and leaves.  Then plant them in moist soil and water them for a while. 
     Pussy willows' attractive, gray fuzzies are short, upright and soft at first.  But they quickly become larger, and yellow with pollen.  Then they are swarmed by a limited variety of small insects after their pollen.
     Native silver maple trees produce many yellow and dull-red flowers by the end of February.  Those lovely blooms create a beautiful glow in the trees. 
     Silver maples inhabit creek and river banks where their roots help hold down the soil against erosion.  And large silver maples become riddled with cavities where wind ripped limbs off these weak trees.  Barred owls, wood ducks, chickadees, squirrels, raccoons, black snakes and other critters live and raise young in those hollows of various sizes.  And the large seeds these maples produce feed a variety of rodents.
     Look for these early flowers this year and following years.  They add beauties to the landscape when we need that beauty the most.